Australia-based Magellan Financial Group (MFG) has agreed to acquire local firm Airlie Funds Management and American fund manager Frontier Partners Group.

The combined considerations for the acquisitions comprise $15m in cash and 4.6 million MFG in shares. A total of 25 employees from Frontier and Airlie are expected to join Magellan as part of the deals.

Airlie, an equities fund manager, was established in 2012 by John Sevior and David Cooper. Airlie mainly caters to institutional and HNW clients and manages and has over $6bn in assets.

Magellan co-founder and CEO Hamish Douglass said: “The acquisition brings together two of Australia’s leading funds management businesses. We have known the Airlie team for many years and consider both John Sevior and Matt Williams to be among the most respected portfolio managers in Australian equities.”

Magellan will finance the deal through the issuance of its shares to Airlie shareholders. Airlie will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Magellan, but will retain its brand.

Following the closure of the deal , which is scheduled on 28 February 2018, the companies will unveil an actively-managed ETF dubbed Airlie Industrial Share Fund.

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Frontier, which oversees strategies for US institutional clients, has been Magellan’s US distribution partner since 2011. Frontier was set up in 1993 by Bill Forsyth, who will now join as executive chairman of Magellan’s North America business.

“The partnership with Frontier and Bill Forsyth has been a real success story for Magellan, representing AUD12.8bn of funds under management. Bill has played a pivotal role in the development of our relationships with key institutional clients and asset consultants in North America,” Douglass stated.